Boston's Lowe riding high after 11th win

ATLANTA -- Derek Lowe claims he's just a No. 3 starter, but his record suggests otherwise.

Lowe outpitched Tom Glavine and became the first AL pitcher to win 11 games, helping the Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 6-1 Sunday.

Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon homered for the Red Sox, who avoided being swept in the battle of division leaders. Pedro Martinez and John Burkett, Boston's top two starters, lost the first two games of the series, and both have lost back-to-back starts.

"I'm not the ace, I'll tell you that right now," Lowe said. "This is only 2 1/2 months. To be considered an ace, you've got to do this for years. I'm the third guy in line, and I just try to win games."

It was just the second loss in 12 games for the Braves.

Lowe (11-2) allowed seven hits in seven innings, including four which didn't leave the infield. He got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth by striking out Chipper and Andruw Jones, and retired three straight in the seventh after giving up back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.

Lowe struck out a career-high 10 and hit one batter. He also got his first career hit, a third-inning single up the middle off Glavine (11-3).

"It was neat to be able to help the team out and help yourself out, too, because we ended up scoring a couple of runs that inning," Lowe said. "That's the beauty of interleague play. You look either real good or real bad."

The matchup with Glavine was only the second meeting of ERA leaders; the other was June 26, 1998, when Al Leiter of the Mets faced Hideki Irabu of the Yankees.

But Glavine didn't last long, leaving after the fifth in his shortest outing of the season. He gave up seven hits and five runs -- three earned -- including Nixon's solo homer leading off the third.

Orioles 4, Phillies 2

PHILADELPHIA -- Travis Driskill, a 30-year-old rookie, won his fourth straight decision as Baltimore beat Philadelphia.

Driskill (4-0) pitched 6 1-3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Jorge Julio pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 17 chances.

Philadelphia starter Terry Adams (3-5) pitched a season-high seven innings, but walked Driskill with two out in the third.

Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora followed with a pair of RBI doubles.

Expos 6, Blue Jays 5

MONTREAL -- Mike Mordecai hit a game-winning RBI single with one out in the ninth inning to give Montreal its fifth straight win.

Mordecai, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth, singled off Kelvim Escobar (3-3) to drive Troy O'Leary home with the winning run.

Scott Stewart (3-1) got Carlos Delgado -- the only batter he faced -- to ground to second with the go-ahead run on third to end the ninth.

Twins 7, Brewers 6

MILWAUKEE -- David Ortiz drove in three runs in a four-run first inning, and Dustan Mohr, Denny Hocking and Corey Koskie hit solo home runs, leading Minnesota over Milwaukee.

Koskie's home run in the seventh inning off Nelson Figueroa (1-5) broke a 6-all tie and gave reliever Tony Fiore (5-1) the win.

Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his AL-leading 20th save in 22 chances.

White Sox 10, Cubs 7

CHICAGO -- Carlos Lee drove in a career-high seven runs with a grand slam and a three-run homer, leading the Chicago White Sox over the Cubs, avoiding a sweep by their crosstown rivals.

Kerry Wood (6-5), who turned 25 Sunday, had one of his worst outings, allowing a career-high eight runs in four-plus innings.

Keith Foulke, who lost his closer's job earlier this week, worked a season-high 2 2-3 innings for his first victory. Foulke (1-4) struck out one and walked one.

Antonio Osuna pitched the ninth for his third save.

Indians 5, Rockies 4

DENVER -- Bartolo Colon won for the fourth time in five starts, and John McDonald drove in two runs to lead Cleveland over Colorado.

McDonald put the Indians up 4-1 in the seventh inning with a two-run double off Colorado starter Denny Neagle (4-4). He also scored on a single by Jolbert Cabrera in the third after tripling with one out.

Colon (9-4) allowed three runs -- two earned -- and seven hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out eight for his sixth win in seven decisions.

Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances.

Astros 7, Rangers 6

HOUSTON -- Craig Biggio hit an RBI single off John Rocker in the ninth to give Houston the victory over Texas.

Julio Lugo hit two home runs for the Astros, who gave up a two-run lead in the ninth when Billy Wagner blew his second save of the season.

It was another rough outing for Rocker (1-2), who was called up from the minors a week ago.

Wagner (1-1) allowed a one-out solo homer to Kevin Mench and walked Ryan Ludwick with one out.

Devil Rays 4, Marlins 1

MIAMI -- Luis Castillo extended his hitting streak to 31 games, matching the longest in the major leagues since 1987, but Tampa Bay scored four times in the final two innings to beat Florida.

Castillo singled leading off the first inning to tie for the fifth-longest streak in the National League since 1900.

The Devil Rays went 17 2-3 innings without a run until Steve Cox lined a two-out RBI single in the eighth against Armando Almanza (2-1) to make the score 1-all. Ben Grieve followed with a run-scoring double.

Victor Zambrano (3-4) gave up one run in two innings. Esteban Yan pitched the ninth for his ninth save in 11 chances.

Athletics 2, Giants 1

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Zito pitched into the seventh inning for his eighth straight victory, and Adam Piatt drove in the go-ahead run as Oakland won the Bay Bridge series, beating San Francisco.

Oakland took two of three on the weekend from its cross-bay rival with another outstanding performance from Zito (9-2), who gave up four hits and struck out five in 6 2-3 innings.

Billy Koch pitched the ninth for his 15th save.

David Bell homered off Zito in the second, but the Giants didn't do enough to help Kirk Rueter (7-5), who allowed nine hits in seven innings. Rueter has lost four of his last five after a 6-1 start.

Dodgers 5, Angels 4

LOS ANGELES -- Eric Karros and Marquis Grissom hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning and Mark Grudzielanek hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh as Los Angeles beat Anaheim Angels to win the Freeway Series.

After Grudzielanek's hit off Al Levine (3-2) broke a 4-all tie, Dennis Cook came in and hit Shawn Green with a pitch in the ribs, causing the benches to clear.

Giovanni Carrara (4-2) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Eric Gagne got five outs for his major league-leading 23rd save in 24 attempts.

Diamondbacks 11, Tigers 2

PHOENIX -- Mark Grace drove in three runs with a homer and his 500th career double as Arizona beat Detroit.

Rick Helling scattered six hits in eight innings. Helling (7-5) didn't allow a run after he gave up Craig Paquette's opposite-field home run in the first inning and improved to 3-0 in his last four starts.

Mark Redman (3-7) allowed five runs on eight hits in seven innings for the Tigers.

Padres 5, Mariners 3

SAN DIEGO -- Wiki Gonzalez hit a three-run homer and 20-year-old left-hander Oliver Perez won his major league debut as San Diego beat Seattle.

At 20 years, 305 days, Perez (1-0) is currently the youngest player in the majors.

Jamie Moyer (6-3) allowed five runs -- four earned -- and eight hits in 4 2-3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.

Trevor Hoffman struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save in as many chances.

Pirates 5, Reds 1

CINCINNATI -- Craig Wilson homered for the third straight game and Jimmy Anderson pitched a five-hitter, leading Pittsburgh over Cincinnati.

Wilson had a three-run homer and a run-scoring single, matching his career high with four RBIs, and Kevin Young added a solo homer as the Ohio River rivals finished their series with one more longball binge. There were 11 homers in the three games, accounting for 16 of the 20 runs.

Anderson (6-8) held the Reds to four singles, a double and five walks, getting the benefit of three double plays. Aaron Boone ruined what would have been Anderson's first shutout in 78 career starts with a run-scoring groundout in the ninth.

Jimmy Haynes (7-6) took the loss.

Mets 3, Yankees 2

NEW YORK -- Mo Vaughn hit a three-run homer off David Wells (7-4) in the eighth inning to give him 1,001 RBIs and lift the Mets past the Yankees.

The Mets took two of three from their crosstown rivals, only the second time they've won a series against the Bronx Bombers in nine tries since interleague play began in 1997.

That doesn't include the 2000 World Series, won by the Yankees in five games.

Mark Guthrie (1-0) got out of a jam in the eighth, striking out Bernie Williams with two on and getting Robin Ventura to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Armando Benitez pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 17 chances.

--From wire reports